Ampradel
49 miles wide, average above surface 10,500 ft.
3.9 years between Core Island connections.
Geography
Soaring high above the surface, Ampradel’s geography consists of three main zones. On the leading, windward side, the winds blow into a dry grasslands, dotted with copses of short trees and shrubs that flower throughout the island’s cycle and get water from the morning fogs that gather over the whole island.
The central highlands consist of a ring of high hills that ring a deep salt lake known as the Selasea. The region is called the Glass Hills because of the minerals that permeate the soil. Exposed rock frequently contain large quartz and other crystals and there are flecks of mica through the soils and clays of the hills. The hills are typically bare, covered only in short grasses and patches of mosses that drink from the daily fogs.
The leeward side of the island has the richest soils and supports small farms and grazing lands around the Traverton. A few rolling hills break up the flat geography of the island but there is little else to break up the view.
The Monolith - The monolith is a relic of the ancients, consisting of a tall black slab of rock, with a square footprint, measuring 80 feet on a side and reaching nearly 250 feet tall. The rock is shiny and smooth, with a flat and polished surface. The entire monolith appears solid, no openings, holes, or weathering damage for the time that it has stood there. However, when the monolith casts a shadow, there are light spots and shapes within the shadow, as if the sunlight were passing through windows in the structure. The shapes occasionally take the form of characters from the ancients alphabet and they have a different pattern each time they are observed.
Towns and Cities - Most of the island’s population lives in the small city of Ryliuth, home to the famed ceramics and pottery works of Ampradel. The Farhouse is an outpost of the Collegium, rumored to be a prison for unlicensed mages.
People and Culture
Ampradel was colonized after the opening of the gates by a smattering of people from across the core islands. A few farmers were the oldest colonists but craftsmen and traders were drawn to the Glass Hills region for the red salt that could be extracted from the Selasea and the beautiful ceramics that could be made from the clays from the Glass Hills. Several farms surround the Traverton.
The village of Ryliuth grew up around a trading post run by a merchant family of the same name who brought goods to the growing community. While the salt trade made the town wealthy, the modest fame of Ryliuth grew from their ceramics. The craftsmen soon formed a guild which explored finer and finer techniques and, in doing so, became more exclusive and secretive. The clay work of the Ceramics Guild is nearly magical in quality, and the wealthy and powerful vie for the opportunities to own the products from Guild. Members of the Guild and their servants are renown for not going out in public without wearing a ceramic mask obscuring their entire face. Guild masks all follow the same basic form with a myriad of designs painted on them. The Guild has used their amassed wealth to hire loyal and fierce guards and other forms of protection. Junior artisans come from across the islands for a chance to apprentice to the Guild.
Despite the Guild secrecy, the rest of Ryliuth is a welcoming enough place, though prices are high at the inns and food costs more than it seems like it should. Several merchants routinely travel to the town in hopes of bidding on the latest works from the Guild and, if unsuccessful, leave with cakes of red salt to sell instead.
Local Authority
The Ceramics Guild effectively governs Ryliuth with their guardsmen keeping the peace in the village. The Arcanists settle disputes and investigate crimes near the Traverton but there is little that goes on necessitating their intervention. Relations between the Guild and the Arcanists are good and they will cooperate to manage broader threats to the peace on the island. The Farhouse and a bit of surrounding land are under the control of the Collegium, and rarely visited.
Language
Travit with a patois of the Cradle languages of the original settlers.